Texans, Chiefs took tough road to playoffs

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt acknowledges the crowd after a sack during the first half against Jacksonville on Jan. 3, 2016, in Houston.

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt acknowledges the crowd after a sack during the first half against Jacksonville on Jan. 3, 2016, in Houston.

Photo: Eric Christian Smith /Associated Press

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Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is sacked by Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt during the second half.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is sacked by Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt during the second half.

Photo: Eric Christian Smith /Associated Press

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Texans defensive end J.J. Watt holds the ball after recovering a Jacksonville Jaguars fumble during the first half.

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt holds the ball after recovering a Jacksonville Jaguars fumble during the first half.

Photo: David J. Phillip /Associated Press

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In this Nov. 29, 2015, file photo, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston (50) tackles Buffalo Bills wide receiver Robert Woods (10) during the first half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo.

In this Nov. 29, 2015, file photo, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston (50) tackles Buffalo Bills wide receiver Robert Woods (10) during the first half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo.

Photo: Charlie Riedel /Associated Press

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In this Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 file photo, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) throws as offensive tackle Eric Fisher (72) blocks Oakland Raiders defensive back Dewey McDonald (35) during the first half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo. less

HOUSTON — Pro football fans in Kansas City and Houston on the morning of Oct. 26 weren’t happy campers.

Although the Chiefs had staved off a late Pittsburgh rally to bring a five-game losing streak to an end, Andy Reid’s bunch hadn’t dazzled the leather-lunged faithful at Arrowhead Stadium the previous afternoon. After all, the Chiefs had struggled to beat a Steelers team quarterbacked by Landry Jones, not Ben Roethlisberger. But they had won, and a 2-5 record looked prettier than 1-6.

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In Houston, meanwhile, the Texans and their fans were shaking their heads in disbelief. NFL teams simply don’t fall behind 41-0 at halftime, but that had been the surreal score in Miami a day earlier before the Texans, also 2-5, salvaged some pride by outscoring the disinterested Dolphins 26-3 in the second half. Not that there was a lot of solace to be gleaned. The final score notwithstanding, the Texans had been humiliated by a middling foe.

Neither Reid nor Bill O’Brien came across as sounding giddy with excitement at their respective team’s prospects when they spoke at their news conferences.

But he said: “Being 1-5 isn’t an easy thing in the National Football League. You find out who your friends are and you don’t have very many of them.”

10-0 and 7-2 finishes

For O’Brien, the flight back from Miami was probably the longest of his coaching career. Although he joked this week about how his first order of business had been finding a cold one, he never intended to drink his sorrows away, or sit there in a catatonic state. Instead, he thought hard about what needed to be changed and how. He made notes to himself, eschewing conversation with players or staff. When the Texans returned to practice, a plan featuring simplified schemes and more hands-off coaching was in place.

A plan, it’s critical to note, the Texans bought into. Without everybody deciding to pull together at that disheartening juncture, the season was over.

Instead, now it has only just begun — for both teams. That Chiefs’ victory over the Steelers would be the first of 10 in a row, the longest active streak in the NFL. The Texans went 7-2 after careening off the rails in Miami and closed with a 3-0 run, starting with a first win in Indianapolis.

That’s how Kansas City and the Texans wound up in a postseason rematch of the regular-season opener at NRG Stadium on Saturday. The playoffs might be full of teams with better records than the Chiefs’ 11-5 and the Texans’ 9-7, but there are no teams brimming with more confidence or self-esteem. That’s essential when everybody is 0-0.

“As a team, we just got our minds together, took it one game at a time and now we’re reaping the benefits,” Houston cornerback Johnathan Joseph said. “We all thought to ourselves (leaving Miami), ‘Is this what we want to go down as all season long, (putting) that type of play out there on film?’”

Colleges

A Texans defense that surrendered 41 points in two quarters in Miami allowed only 114 over the next 38. It held five teams without a touchdown, including the then-unbeaten Bengals in a 10-6 Monday night victory in Cincinnati.

The offense, going through three quarterbacks during the resurgence because of Brian Hoyer’s two concussions and T.J. Yates’ torn anterior cruciate ligament, did enough to keep the Texans in games. The defense’s putting the hammer down was routinely the difference. But significant help was forthcoming from the running game, which ensured time of possession befriended the Texans.

Another intriguing parallel between the Chiefs and Texans is both teams were stripped of the services of their star running backs at about the same time. Jamaal Charles went down with a torn ACL in Kansas City’s 16-10 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 18. But the Chiefs suddenly felt a lot better about having to go forth without Charles after former practice-squad player Charkandrick West ran for 110 yards against the Steelers.

The Texans lost Arian Foster for the season in Miami when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon late in the lost cause, circumstances that had people questioning O’Brien’s judgment or intelligence.

The Texans’ ground game stayed stuck in neutral for another couple of weeks before some continuity in the injury-plagued offensive line got Foster’s understudies going. After rushing for more than 100 yards just once the first nine weeks, the Texans gained at least 123 in six of the last seven games.